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Registered Member #2405
Joined: Fri Oct 02 2009, 12:59AM
Location: Wisconsin
Posts: 140
Playing around with my large Plasma globe I decided to make a new driver for it using a 555 and a IRFP260 mosfet. The old driver that was in there made the streamers kind of purplish and pink colored. This driver seems to make the streamers blue? I am not sure why the difference yet.
Also by changing the frequency I was able to make many streamers, or just one streamer or 3 or 4 streamers climb up to reach the top only to bend back around after they reach about 1/4 of the way up and head for the bottom of the globe, not sure what that is happening yet either.
However maximum current is around 2 amps with a 50% duty cycle. So more experimenting is needed with different fly back transformers (it does react differently with different fly back transformers) and different topologies of drivers but it does look really cool.
Registered Member #5258
Joined: Sun Jun 10 2012, 10:15PM
Location: Missouri - USA
Posts: 119
With an increase in electrode voltage the number of energy states possible increases and therefore emission states, when you do this, the plasma color usually tends towards white or blue.
Changing the electrode voltage frequency also affects the energy states and how efficient the ionized gas can reach an excited state.
Curious though how the frequency affects the number of streamers. Possibly certain frequencies ionize the gasses quicker and allow multiple mean free paths at lower electron voltages. While other frequencies ionize fewer mean free paths allowing electron voltage to build until one path opens, an once a path is open it tends to remain open.
With an increase in electrode voltage the number of energy states possible increases and therefore emission states, when you do this, the plasma color usually tends towards white or blue.
Registered Member #2405
Joined: Fri Oct 02 2009, 12:59AM
Location: Wisconsin
Posts: 140
kimbomba wrote ...
2bytes wrote ...
With an increase in electrode voltage the number of energy states possible increases and therefore emission states, when you do this, the plasma color usually tends towards white or blue.
What exactly do you men by "energy states" ?
Kimbomba, If you look here it is explained in good detail :
Registered Member #2405
Joined: Fri Oct 02 2009, 12:59AM
Location: Wisconsin
Posts: 140
I managed to get a still picture. Seems like there is a lot of charge in the globe itself even with only 8 volts into the flyback the charge seems to be all over not just in the streamers. There is a blue glow all around the inside as you can see. I thought by reducing the voltage input it might clear it up some but does not seem to make a big difference. Its hard to see when all the lights are on but very visible when the lights are off.
Registered Member #4081
Joined: Wed Aug 31 2011, 06:40PM
Location: UK
Posts: 139
Maybe it also has a little to do with the resonance of the flyback, presumably more power = more streamers. Doesn't explain the colours though, perhaps it is related to the current?
Registered Member #2405
Joined: Fri Oct 02 2009, 12:59AM
Location: Wisconsin
Posts: 140
The original driver that was in this globe would produce kind of lavender streamers and pink pads on the globe at the streamer ends and many streamers at once. So I connected my new driver to the same flyback and the only thing that changed was the input current (There are less primary turns on the original flyback) the current was higher, the color remained the white blue colored streamer. Using a different flyback with more turns on the primary brought the current down but no change in the streamer color.
So I am not exactly sure why the streamers are different depending on which driver I use. The original driver uses a totem pole topolgy while the one I built up uses a single MOSFET. I need to play around with it some more, possibly build up a driver similar to the old one and see what effect it has.
The change from the old driver to this new one is quite drastic I always thought it was just the gas type used that made the color. But I guess other things change it too.
I know the higher the voltage the more white it gets however I reduced the voltage on this and could not see the changes getting any closer the the colors the original driver produced.
Registered Member #2405
Joined: Fri Oct 02 2009, 12:59AM
Location: Wisconsin
Posts: 140
Harry wrote ...
Maybe it also has a little to do with the resonance of the flyback, presumably more power = more streamers. Doesn't explain the colours though, perhaps it is related to the current?
You know I think you are right, I looked the original circuit over that was in there and it is a resonant driver circuit. So maybe that explains the different. The circuit I built up is not a resonant driver. It appears the original circuit is using an antenna feedback. Once I get the circuit I bread boarded on something a little more solid I am going to get the original circuit back up and running then I will compare the behavior of the two circuits in the globe.
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Flyback Driver Using 555 and IRFP260
